


Like a Rocket Just Watch Me Go

by gnomi



Category: Glee
Genre: 5x13, After Finn's Death, Episode Related, Mentions Finn's Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 06:39:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1377583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gnomi/pseuds/gnomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So how did Blaine know “Loser Like Me”? Where did that arrangement come from? And how did Artie, Sam, and Tina know it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Rocket Just Watch Me Go

**Author's Note:**

> This plot bunny came to me as I watched “New Directions” (5x13) and wouldn’t let go, even though I begged it. So I wrote it instead. Beta-ed by the magnificent Jen (froggydarren).

_March 2011_

The bus back to Dalton from Regionals is virtually silent. Everyone is subdued, most still overwhelmed by the idea that they’d lost at Regionals, and to the New Directions of all groups. 

“Mr. Schue might be a horrible teacher most of the time, but he sure knew the secret to winning this time,” Kurt whispers. “That second song they did, it… that’s the sort of environment I left when I came to Dalton. I’m going to have to get one of the girls to teach me the song.”

“It has a catchy tune; it’s still running through my head,” Blaine replies. “When they teach it to you, teach it to me, OK?”

“Sure,” Kurt says, kissing Blaine on the cheek and then leaning his head against the back of the seat. This hadn’t, obviously, been the _worst_ day ever, but it was among the most disappointing. He’d find a silver lining, most likely, but it wasn’t going to happen tonight.

***

_October 2012_

“So go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth,” Blaine whispers to himself, wiping the tears from his eyes. It’s been three days since he got back from New York, and that lyric has been running through his head since Callbacks. He doesn’t even realize it half the time; he finds himself humming it, but only that snippet, slower, more melancholy. 

He walks over to the piano in the sitting room and sits on the bench, his fingers on the keys. After a minute, he starts playing what’s in his head. “You’ll never be, you’d never be… a loser like me,” he sings quietly, tears again streaming down his face. He’ll never stop crying; his heart will remain broken forever. He’s sure of it. He’s a zero, a freak, just like the song says.

***

_April 2013_

A week after the lockdown at McKinley, Blaine’s parents are out of town, and he invites Tina, Artie, and Sam to his house for a totally informal New Directions Seniors Sleepover. They’re as close as siblings now. Sometimes dysfunctional siblings who occasionally want to destroy each other, but siblings nonetheless. Actually, if Blaine thinks about it, their relationship isn’t that different from his own with his actual brother -- they love each other unconditionally, but there will always be things about one another that just piss them off. But right now, there is no petty bickering, no obsessing about small -- or even big -- missteps. Things are different; this is family.

After they’ve had dinner and gotten into sleepwear, they’re all stretched out on Blaine’s bed when he says, “Oh! I need to play something for you.” He jumps off the bed and goes to his Casio in the corner, playing just a bit of the chorus. 

“That sounds… familiar,” Artie says.

“Yeah,” says Tina. “Very familiar.”

“Bad familiar or good familiar?” Blaine asks, nervous about their reaction to his appropriating their song for his own purposes.

 “ _Great_ familiar,” Sam says. “You’ve gotta give me the sheet music so I can learn the new arrangement on guitar.”

Being together like this, like they’re the only ones in the world, like they’re the sole survivors, this is the feeling they need to remember. They don’t have much time left together like this, but they’ll stay this sort of family, Blaine promises himself, if he has any say in it. 

***

_May 2013_

The night following Finn’s funeral, Blaine teaches his arrangement to Kurt. He gets only partly through “I’ll get you back when I’m your boss” before they’re both crying again. To them, that will always be Finn’s verse, no matter what.

***

_June 2013_

Graduation is days away, _finally_. This has been the longest school year ever, and the hardest emotionally, even worse than the year he transferred to Dalton. But it’s almost over, and he’s again surrounded by his closest friends, the ones who made it through this crucible with him. This time -- as has been a running theme this year, honestly -- they’re here to support Tina. She _will_ end up with them in New York, most likely. And if not, well, Brown’s not that far away. Blaine is sure she’ll find her way out of Lima; Queen T is too big a personality to be restricted to such a small town. He’s secretly glad she didn’t get into Mitzvah, though he’ll never tell her that. Going there, pretending to be something she isn’t in order to be accepted, that was the old Tina. The new Tina will be fabulous no matter where she ends up. She just has to be confident in herself. So when Tina calls herself a loser and Sam responds “Like me,” Blaine knows they have to sing it, one last time. He and Artie and Sam share a glance, and he’s glad that he taught it all to them a couple of months back. The song’s intention has changed now. They’re no longer defiantly standing up to the world’s perceptions of them; now they are challenging their own perceptions, remembering that they’re more than what their fears convince them they are. They’ll be invincible.

They’ll be… amazing.

END


End file.
